Well hello my little premium quality hash browns, how are you this fine weekend?

You may have noticed a certain…alteration with my appearance. Don’t be alarmed my pretties – certain seismic electrical currents have a way of altering the time continuum in my quaint little town. Like the larvae that entombs itself within a carapace, only to emerge as a beautiful butterfly later on, so does our skin. Our true selves are born from the ashes of our old bodies. I imagine that you have gone through a similar transition as you begun writing your story, yes?

I imagine once you received your character, location and item of interest, that little nugget of yours was simply glowing with ideas, wasn’t it? I wonder how you filtered through these ideas…was it like the fisherman in the boat catching the biggest carp he could find and then throwing away ones he deemed unworthy? Was it like granules of coffee being diluted through a sieve, letting only the truly magnificent pieces to remain? Or perhaps it was a brilliant jolt of inspiration – like the poisonous sting of a wasp’s barb?

Whatever ideas may have initially sprung that you beheld with fervent admiration at the beginning of this journey…I have an idea that those ideas may have swerved and changed like the unpredictable nature of the tide, hmm? How many story lines, characterisation traits and other prose did you throw away? I can only wonder. But like the larvae, everything must change. I hope your grub grew like a empowered embryo into a different beast altogether.

And that’s okay.

I welcome change. I embrace change. Just note that there are many writers milling around the town of Shallow Creek now, all hungry to have that one special story that stands out amongst the crowd. That one story that will forever change the outcome of this picturesque town…so, with only 48 days to go – do you have that story within you? I do hope so, my little Machiavellian succubus. I do hope you feel the insurmountable pressure building as the clock ticks away and the days lessen…for with change comes a shake up of the status quo. No longer will ‘Uncle Mallum’ be here just to be your guide around town.

No, no, no. As you can imagine, this book that I will be putting together can only contain the best stories. I’ve been treating you writers with kid gloves…and now the gloves come off.

48 days to go, my pretties. I demand only the best from all of you. Tough love, perhaps. But you’ll find the rewards irrevocably life changing. I guarantee it.

Illustration by HarlotVonCharlotte